The Hunger Games: 74th annual games
by Anonym Author
Summary: We all know the story of Katniss Everdeen, the girl on fire. I want to tell the story of Peeta Mellark in this story. This is his story in his own view. (NEW VERSION!) This is only how I imagine the story if it was told from Peeta's perspective. I do not own any of the characters or their story. I love the real books and I admire the author Suzanne Collins who wrote them.
1. Chapter 1 - The reaping

Chapter 1 - The reaping

"Peeta Mellark" Effie Trinket says when she read the name on the little ticket to death. The people around me looks at me as I watch her, the most beautiful girl in Panem, stand there on the stage and slowly walk up the stairs to join her. She volunteered to save her sister from all this. Effie talks a few minutes more and I look for my brother Sky. He is the same age as Gale Hawthorne, Katniss best friend and her supposed future husband. Now she will sit on a train with me. To compete against me and twenty-two others to maybe see her sister and her mother again. She might do it, she might be the third winner from our district. She is good with that bow and she is used to surviving on her own. She feed her family for several years after the accident in the mines where her father died. I won't survive a day in those games. I am already dead. But she might stand a chance. She knows more about surviving than no one else that enters that arena. I hope she wins, for her family and for our district. It would be an honour to die if it meant that she survived and could help her family. If she returned and lived a happy life, I would die as the happiest man in Panem. Effies voice wake me up from my thoughts, demanding me to shake hand with Katniss. I take her ice-cold hand in mine. I see the horror in her eyes as she looks at me. Already making plans of how to survive and returning to district 12. And I doubt that this is the last time she sees her home when I see the horror, anger and stubborn glance in her eyes.

The peacekeepers show me the room where I will meet my family and friends for the last time. No one really need me. The first persons to come is my father, my mother and Sky. Mother says that district 12 might finally win the Hunger Games. Sky hugs me and tells me to fight to the end. He is keeping himself together, he does not want me to see him cry. I cry my eyes out when they leave, and Josie and Matt come to visit me. They hug me, and I can see a tear in Josie's eye, wanting to fall down her cheek. Matt is already crying. We have been friends since we took our first steps outside the bakery. I will miss him and Josie, who is Matt's girlfriend, as much as I will miss my family. My brothers come to visit me. Uriah and Shawn are my older brothers, they still work at the bakery, but they are both married, and they moved out a few years ago. The twins sit with me for a few minutes until the peacekeeper comes and takes me away from my family. My home. Brings me to my destiny. And I welcome it, even if the tears are falling down my cheeks. I am not afraid of dying. I am afraid to die as someone else. As a monster.


	2. Chapter 2 - The train of death

Chapter 2 – The train of death

It is the first time I go anywhere by car. In district 12 we use our feet, since cars are way too expensive to anyone but the people of the capital. The tears are falling down my checks, but I cannot see any in her eyes. She just looks at the district that she loves and hates. I remember that day when we were almost eleven years old. She was thin as a skeleton, siting under the tree by my house to cover herself from the rain pouring down all over district 12. I saw the hunger in her tired eyes as I watched her from my window in the bakery. My mother screamed at her for stealing our rubbish and told her to go away. I burned two loafs of bread by "mistake" and instead of giving it to the pig I gave it to her. Mother hit me in the face for burning the bread and the next day I had a red mark all over the left side of the face. But it was worth it, since I could give the bread to her and her starving family.

Effie shows us our rooms at the train. Then we go to another car where there are sofas and low tables. It is a television on the wall and Caesar Flickerman talks about the reaping in the different districts. His hair is dark blue this year, but the voice and smile are the same as every year. Katniss and I sit down in two chairs as Effie tells us to wait for our mentor. Katniss looks at her feet. She wears blue shoes that matches her blue dress perfectly, and then I see a golden little pin at her chest. It is a bird flying. The bird must be a mockingjay. I remember my father's words the first day in school. He told me about the girl with two dark brown braids and red-white checked dress, or more specifically about her father. When her father sang, the birds stopped singing to listen to him. To be able to copy his melody.

Our mentor, Haymitch Abernathy, enters the car. He is one of two winners from district 12. The first winner won one of the earliest games, and therefore Haymitch have been the only mentor since he won the 50th version of the games. It was the second quarter quell, with 48 competitors instead of 24. Nowadays he is an alcoholic, and he already smells like a bottle of alcohol. He already did at the reaping, when he screamed to the cameras and then fell of the stage. I talk to him, and Katniss sits there quiet. He gets angry as I speak about the importance of him helping us in the games and the importance of being sober. He runs out of the car, and I follow him to make him come around. "It is no use, Peeta" Katniss sigh behind me, and she might have a point in that. But I must talk with him. She must survive, and he must help her back home.

I find him in his room, and I knock on his door. But he won't open. I go back to my room and Effie knocks on the door and tells me to come to the dining car. Katniss and Effie already sit at the table when I arrive. Haymitch drinks more and more, and finally he fells over into his own stomach contents. Katniss and I laugh and look at each other. Her grey eyes are alive now, and she almost smile at me. Effie screams a bit and then she leaves us with our mentor. Katniss and I help him up, and I say to her that I can take care of him if she finds someone to take care of the floor in the car. She thanks me, and I take Haymitch to his room. I take him to the bathtub and wake him up. Now I can talk to him about saving the girl I secretly love. She has so much to live for. Her sister needs her, her mother does too. Gale needs his friend back. No one need me, and sooner or later I am forgotten. I do not stand a chance against any of them. Katniss might think that she is helpless, but she is not. She would beat me any day, even if I might be stronger than her physically she has that bow. And I am already hit by one of her arrows. She hit me right in the heart, and then she could hit the rest of my body as well.

The next day we reach Panem. I wave to the crowds at the train station. Someone might be rich and wanting to help me. Someone might be able to help Katniss return to her family. Someone must help her since she does not help herself. And I will help her until my last breath.


	3. Chapter 3 - The ceremony of fire

Chapter 3 – The ceremony of fire

I wake up in a bed in the capital of Panem. The legendary capital of Panem in bright colours. But I would love to wake up in my own bed at the little bakery at home in district 12. I would do anything to see my brothers covered in flour by the oven, to hear my parents argue once more. To realize that this is just a bad nightmare. But I am awake, and here I am. With the girl I never dared to talk to, with the girl who made my stomach fill up with butterflies. A girl I admired for ages. Now we are in the same sinking boat. Why would this happen?

Effie knocks on my door to wake me up for the opening ceremony. Today they will see us for the first time after the reaping. We eat breakfast together, but no one says much. I small talk with Effie. Katniss seems tired and not willing to be a part of any kind of conversations. I respect her, since I know that she is not the kind of person who talks to people she does not know. She always was the quiet and shy girl in class. But I like her that way. She is the more introvert kind of person, and it is nothing you should change about yourself. I know who she is thinking about. Her mother and little sister left at home, in the Seam. I know this because all I can think of is my own family. Sky is going to school without me today. He won't have a little brother to annoy anymore. Uriah and Shawn are in the bakery, baking the first loafs of bread with my father. My mother must be out feeding the pig and the hens. I already miss them.

Portia, my stylist, is not like the rest of the people here. She is really kind and she does not congratulate me for being here. She knows that I would rather be somewhere else than here. The assistants are a real nightmare though, but I do as I am being told and try to stay nice to them. They talk a lot and they ask me questions about my past. I politely answer them, but it hurts to talk about my old life that I will never live once again. Even if I magically would win (which will never happen) my life would never be the same ever again. A life of a winner must be worse than compete in the games. To get to know new people that you know you might never see ever again, and then send them to slaughter every year. I understand Haymitch being the alcoholic he is, and why the winners often get stuck in an addiction to something. I would never want that to happen to me.

Portia comes into the room to dress me in the costume for the ceremony. I wear simple underwear and she dress me in black clothes and an onyx cloak with a hood. When she put the cape on fire and put out the lights in the dress room I look at myself in the mirror. I do not look like a human anymore, I look like the fire in the oven I the bakery at home. They did not cover the bruise that Haymicth gave me at the train and I look more dangerous than I really am. Portia and I meet up with Katniss and her stylist Cinna, a man with simple clothes and just a hint of golden eyeliner on his eyelid. Katniss looks gorgeous in her costume. Someone must want to sponsor this beautiful girl next to me in the elevator. The ones that did not chose to support her will regret it when they see her shoot anyways. She is lethal with a bow and a quiver. Ask the squirrels she shoots in the eye. If she can kill a squirrel she can kill her competitors as well.

I stand up in the cart with Katniss. We are waiting for our turn to go. The black horses stand still a few more minutes and Cinna puts the cloaks on fire right before we go. I watch him and he shows me that he wants me to take Katniss's hand in mine, and I do. "What are you doing?" She asks me. "The audience will love it. And I am scared to fall of this thing" I say, even if I stand steady in the cart. "Okay" she whispers in my ear. The audience screams our names and someone even throw a flower to Katniss and she catch it with her free hand. She waves to the crowds and is smiling. I do not know if I have seen her smile for so long before. We are still holding hands when the cart stops and our team comes to meet us. "You should dress in fire more often, Katniss. It fits you very well" I complement her. "You too" she says and gets on her toes and kiss me on the cheek. Haymitch smiles and looks at me when she walks to the elevator with Cinna and Effie. "You should hide those feelings deep down my boy, I think that the whole stadium saw how you looked at her" he says. "Or maybe we could use it" Portia says. "She just kissed him, and she might have some feelings for Peeta as well. This might be the first love story the Hunger games have ever seen" she says when we are alone in the elevator.


	4. Chapter 4 - Before slaughter

Chapter 4 – Before slaughter

Haymitch asks me and Katniss weather we want to train on our own or together when we sit by the dining table that evening. "I think we know each other's strengths and skills. You can train us together if Katniss agree to it" I say and watch in her direction. "Yeah, I do not mind" she answers.

I tell her good night when we go to bed. I go into my bedroom and decide to take a shower. A mistake I never forget. At home we have one button to put on the water. These people have like 200 buttons. I try to figure out how to use is, but it ends with a smell of roses and lavender. And my skin is bright red due to the hot or the icy cold water I showered in. I go to bed and try to sleep. But I cannot, and soon I am on the roof, watching the weird people in weird costumes. But I can't figure out if they are on masquerade or at an ordinary party. I watch them in silence.

Effie knocks on my door and tells me to wake up. After the visit at the roof I went to bed, and I fell asleep for a few hours. I open the wardrobe, and realize I have more clothes in my wardrobe than I probably owned in my entire life. And I am not kidding. I thankfully see that someone put a simple shirt, a pair of pants and shoes on the desk. We go through the day with our mentor and his companion, Effie. "You go to the lesions with Atala and keep focus on what she says. You are training together the whole time." He mumbles. He had a drink this morning, and he talk slow. Katniss protests, but Haymitch just tells her to follow his instructions. We go to see our fellow tributes, and we start to train our bodies for the games. I know it is not enough time for several of us. People like I, who never held something sharper than a kitchen knife has no chance compared to district 1,2 and 4. They have prepared for this their entire life. In their district it is an honor to be chosen for the games. In the other districts, we only look because we are forced. We only participate because we are forced to, and very few would do the same thing Katniss did. Katniss in the first volunteer in like twenty years or something.

We tell Haymitch and Effie about the other gamblers during dinner. We watch the repeat of the Opening ceremony that night and everyone is dazzled by district 12, since we had more time on screen than the others. Katniss looks amazing and I want to tell her, but I do not.

We train for two more days and then we show a chosen skill to the game makers. I do as I am told, I throw some heavy stuff around, and one of the weights almost comes on my foot. I told Katniss to shoot straight. I hope she does.

Katniss comes out the elevator crying. I have already told about my show when she appears. She runs in her room and lock the door. "Wonder what happened?" Haymitch mumbles. Effie and Haymitch knock at her door for a long time, but she won't open. She comes out for dinner and when she tells Haymitch what she did, he starts laughing. I do too. And she finally understands it was not a catastrophe she laughs with us. But Effie finds it very upsetting. But she calms down when we get our results. Katniss scored the highest of us all. An 11. It could be a good thing, since she will have sponsors, but the others might be jealous and try to hunt her down for it. I would never do that, but I am not sure to others would not.

The next day we are preparing for interviews with Caesar Flickerman, and I told Haymitch I must talk to him alone. I want to "train alone" from now. I must discuss what we talked about after the opening ceremony. I think she should now, and I think it is time to tell her about my feelings. The feelings I have tried to hide for several years will be in the newspaper tomorrow. My big secret is about to be told. Haymitch agree to my plans. Now or never. I might be dead tomorrow morning, and I cannot die before I've told her the truth. Haymitch suggest that I am with district 1,2 and 4 to begin with. They will hunt Katniss, and we all know that. He needs me to help her and mislead them as long as possible. I can stand a couple of days with horrible people if it means I have helped the girl in my dreams.

Portia and I meet Katniss and Cinna. We get in line, and soon I will tell my biggest secret ever. In live television. And everyone in Panem will know about my crush on Katniss Everdeen, the girl on fire.


	5. Chapter 5- The secret

Chapter 5 – The secret

The little girl from district 11, Rue, is on stage with Caesar. I think I will pass out. It is just Thresh and Katniss left. Now I am more nervous than I have never been in my entire life. I must do this, I will regret it the rest of my life if I do not. I want her to know this. It is funny, because I think I would have been more nervous to tell her if I just told her face to face than I am now. Now I am telling her in front of the entire nation. Everyone in Panem will know my biggest secret in a few minutes. I will be dead in a few days anyways, and therefore I do not really care about everyone knowing it. It might show the people of the capital how cruel this game is. The people of the capital understand love, even if they don't seem to get anything else in this world. Maybe they will wake up and realize what they do is wrong. But if they have not changed in 74 years, why would my death and my declaration of love change anything at all? Katniss walks up on stage. She seems very nervous. Caesar must repeat his first question twice. But when time pass she becomes more and more confident. When she walks of stage I just want to run away. Hide in my room and not come back. But I take a deep breath and shake Caesar's outstretched hand. I joke around and talks about being the bakers' son at home and start to compare the tributes with the classical breads from their districts. I hope someone find me funny. "So, Peeta. Do you have a girlfriend back home?" Caesar asks me. And I just shake my head. Because I do not have a girlfriend, even if I have been secretly in love with a girl since forever. No one seem to believe me, and therefore Caesar continue to ask me about my love life. "A handsome lad like you. There must be some special girl. Come on, what's her name?" he tries to get an answer. And I am about to tell everyone in Panem my biggest secret. "Well, there is one girl. I've had a crush on her ever since I can remember. But I am pretty sure she didn't know I was alive until the reaping" I give them the most honest answer I could ever give them. "She has another fellow?" Caesar asks me. Well, I do not know. She might have, since I know many girls likes Gale Hawthorne. And I know they have a strong relationship, but if it includes a romance I do not know. I know how he looks at her in school, and when they go home to hunt. It is quite obvious he only has eyes for her, even if he has kissed many other girls over the years. Maybe to make her jealous of the other girls, or something. But I do not know if she even noticed his feelings for her. She is clearly not the type who notices such things. "I don't know, but a lot of boys like her" I answer sadly. Caesar tries to cheer me up with his response. "So here is what you do. You win, you go home. She can't turn you down then, eh?" My face turns red as I say "I do not think it is going to work out. Winning…won't help in my case." I hint. "Why ever not?" Caesar asks confused. I can feel my heart beating faster. Now I must tell her. Now. I see myself on a screen, and I see how I blush. Red like a tomato. "Because…Because she came here with me." O my god. I just told her and a few other millions of people. The cameras are finding Katniss to get her reaction. I am happy to not be the only one blushing and being as red as a tomato in the entire face. Because when she realizes I talk about no one else than her, her jaw drops and she blushes really hard. Maybe more than I do. I stare at my shoes. "Oh. That is a piece of bad luck." Caesar tells me. Like I did not realize it the moment I was chosen as the male tribute of district 12. "It is not good" I agree. "Well, I do not think any of us can blame you. It'd be hard not to fall for that young lady". Caesar tells me. "She did not know?" Obviously, she did not. "Not until now". I hear protests in the audience. I actually hear cries. They are upset and curious about the news. "Wouldn't you love to pull her back out here and get a response?" Caesar asks the audience. Of course, they want. But I do not. What if she rejects me, in front of millions of people? Or even scarier, what would happen if she likes me back? It is better if we talk about it in private on our floor. And the people in control of the show agrees with me. They won't take her back on stage. And I breath out. I am a bit scared and nervous when I walk of stage, since I am not sure of her reaction. What if she already has a fellow, and I put her in a bad situation?

Clearly, she was not a big fan of me telling the whole country I love her. My hands ache after she shoved me. "What was that for?" I ask. She looks angry and spit her answer on me. "You had no right! No rights to say those things about me." I look down at my hands, they are bleeding. Our team enter the floor and watch me on the floor and her standing next to me shouting about what I just did to her. "What is going on?" Effie says and looks at us. "Did you fall?" I watch my blood on the floor and answer "After she shoved me" I say. It is the truth. Cinna and Effie help me up from the floor when Haymitch shouts at her "Shoved him?" He smells wine and alcohol and I would not want to be in her shoes. She shouts back "This was your idea, wasn't it? Turning me into some kind of fool in front of the entire country?" And I know I must defend him. Because this was my idea all along. I could have told her when we were not in live television, but I decided to tell her in front of the entire nation. "It was my idea" I say and I winch when I pull out some spikes from my palms. "Haymitch helped me with it" She looks angry and wild. "Yes, Haymitch is very helpful. To you!" And Haymitch just shakes his head and murmurs "You are a fool. Do you think he hurt you? That boy just gave you something you could never achieve on your own" She is not very romantic, and she can appear very cold. But when she really cares she shows it, like volunteering for her sister. Katniss shouts" He made me look weak!" I do not think so, I think I made myself look weak. The biggest weakness on the arena must be being in love with another tribute. You just want them to be safe, and you do whatever it takes to save them. Even if it means your own death. "He made you look desirable! And just face it, Katniss, you can use all the help you can get in that department. You were as romantic as dirt until he said he wanted you. Now they all do. You're all they're talking about! The star-crossed-lovers from district 12!" Haymitch barks at her. When even Cinna shows he support me and Haymitch in this argue, she gives in. "I should have been told, so I did not look so stupid." She says. I do not think she looked stupid. Her reaction on stage were cute. Portia tells her that the reaction was perfect. "She is just worried about her boyfriend" I tell them. The stare she gives me is as lethal as her arrows. "I don't have a boyfriend." She claims. "Whatever. I bet he is smart enough to know a bluff when he sees it. Besides, you didn't say you loved me. So, what does it matter?" It hurts when I tell her it was a bluff. It clearly was not, but she seems to think it is. But Portia and Haymitch know the truth and that is always something. I can't stop loving her, and I cannot help it. Tomorrow I might be dead, and she will think my feelings for her was not real.

Later that evening, I can not sleep. The games start the next morning. I need some air and therefore I go to the roof. A few minutes later, when I sit there and look at the people down there I hear footsteps. I know it is Katniss, and I think she does not know I know she is there. "You should get some sleep" she tells me. " I did not want to miss the party. It's for us, after all" I tell her where I sit in the dark. "Are they in costumes?" she asks. Like I would know. "Who could tell? With all the crazy clothes they wear here. Couldn't sleep either?" She says I should get some sleep, but she is clearly not getting any sleep herself. "Couldn't turn my mind of." She sighs and looks out over the city. She is probably thinking about Prim and her mother. And Gale. The anger she showed when I called him her boyfriend, made me think she might love him more than a friend. How did he react to all this? "No. All I can think of is tomorrow" she says. I have already accepted my destiny. I will be dead in the matter of two weeks. I could be dead tomorrow. I know she can't accept a destiny like that. I know she will fight until her last breath. "I am really sorry about your hands." She says and I just smile. I did not have a chance anyways. "It does not matter, Katniss. I've never been a contender in the Games anyway". I see her grey eyes in the dark. "That is no way of thinking" she tells me. "Why not? My best hope is to not disgrace myself and…" I reply. "And what?" She asks when I do not find the words. I tell her that I do not want them to change me. And therefore, she asks if I won't kill anyone. But I am pretty sure I will, if someone tried to hurt her or hurting me I would kill him or her without a second thought. I fear myself when I say and think that way. I tell her what I mean about I do not want them to change me. And she just answers me like this "Care about what Haymitch said. About staying alive" And I smile and answer "OK. Thanks for the tip, Sweetheart". I know she does not like that nickname, I see it on her face when Haymitch does call her "Sweetheart". She says she want to go back to 12, and I tell her it would not surprise me if she did see our home again. I ask her to tell my family I love them. "Count on it." She says and leaves the roof. I go to sleep after a few minutes more. I wonder what she will think of me when she realizes who I've teamed up with. But I only do to mislead them from her.


End file.
